Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
This invention is a simple, fast, effective, and economical shoe sole cleaning and drying apparatus for various sizes and types of shoes. It is used especially to remove the gray-black residue that stays on soles after walking or playing on asphalt or any other paving material that exudes such dark residue.
Over the years this has become more and more a pervasive and ongoing problem in at least some of the desert parts of the South-west. In a large metropolitan area, including most of the suburbs and even some of the smaller towns around, the problem is often mentioned because it is so common, yet unpleasant to remedy.
Some wealthier areas, as well as government entities, seem to use a better grade of asphalt or they use concrete. Whereas, many privately-owned parking lots, driveways, playgrounds, and streets, which have grown along with the population, seem to be paved and repaved with dark material that clings stubbornly to shoe soles. The hot and dry climate may be a contributing factor.
So, as men, women, and children return home after walking in super market, drug store, church or other parking lots, or on some streets, alleys, and driveways, or playgrounds and outdoor sport surfaces, they arrive with nearly black shoe soles.
Thus, for many people, this is an almost daily problem. They do not have to cope with sand, mud, or other debris on their shoe or boot soles but with the dark dust and residue that tracks into homes to soil carpet, rugs, tile, and upholstered furniture.
Some people try to cope by removing their shoes before they enter the house. Then they have to decide whether to leave them outside, carry them in and wash the soles in a sink, or throw them in a washing machine every day. Understandably, none of these measures is very popular.
Even if people wanted to take off their shoes with the dirtied soles and carry them to a sink to wash them every time they came home, few would find it a happy solution because:
1. the sink method involves having to remove the shoes before entering one""s home;
2. cleaning the soles by hand is an unpleasant, dirty, and germ-spreading job;
3. the black comes off on sponges, cleaning cloths, sinks, etc., so then one has all of them to wash;
4. it is difficult to adequately remove the grime by hand, especially from the numerous indentations of various shapes and kinds that are found in walking and hiking shoes, tennis and other athletic shoes.
Overall, women especially have a difficult time keeping the carpet and furniture clean, with no acceptable solution in sight.
Numerous shoe sole cleaning devices have been invented over the years. However, some of them seem to be too specialized or too complicated and expensive to make for the above-mentioned problem. Also, none of them seems to be available in the local marketplace, and one wonders why, unless they are too expensive or specialized to make for the general public.
Some of the prior art is aimed at special types of shoes, i.e., an athletic shoe cleaner in U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,425 to Bragga (1989). This device xe2x80x9cis applied to a person""s footwear or wrist . . . to dislodge large particles.xe2x80x9d This would be too specialized for the residue problem.
Another specialization is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,128,801 to Adzick, et al. (2000) that attaches to the shoe or is built into the shoe and is mostly for athletic shoes but not too practical for general use. Also, there sole cleaners aimed at golf shoes, bowling shoes, etc., and they may meet the needs of these particular types of shoes.
Other inventions seem rather complicated and are large and no doubt expensivexe2x80x94more for commercial use, such as by hotels. Some of these have numerous parts: motors, axles, rollers, sensors, rails, belts, shafts, switches, pulleys, gears, compressed air, sponges, squeegees, bristles, and brushes. U.S. Pat. No. 6,067,688 to West (2000) seems like one of the commercial types that scrapes mud and dirt from soles, and is motorized with many parts.
Some of the prior art does not always clarify what their specific cleaning elements are and do not mention any type of cleaning agent except water. For the black residue mentioned above, a cleaning liquid stronger than water is necessary.
Prior art xe2x80x9cbox-typexe2x80x9d cleaners have motors, brushes, rollers, etc. delineated, but no cleaning agents or absorbable material is mentioned that would remove the black residue. U.S. Pat. No. 5,950,269 to Openshaw, et al. (1999) has brushes, scrapers, a motor and more. The device is aimed at cleaning off mud, but only water is mentioned as a cleaning agent.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,219,873 B1 to Kuechel (2001) appears complex and multi-faceted with belts, a receptacle, shaft element, slide-rail guides, rollers, axles, bristles, and with xe2x80x9cother additions possible.xe2x80x9d This seems like a rather complex and expensive device. Also, the cleaning elements are not adequately described, except for the mention of bristles. It is stated that xe2x80x9cthe cleaning elements can be made of any suitable material . . . preferably of plastic or organic tissue . . . xe2x80x9d This is vague as to their size, texture, and absorbency. Also, there is no mention of a cleaning agent that would remove any special kinds of residue, such as the one previously mentioned.
Thus, most of the prior art inventions seem more specialized, complicated, automated, and expensive to make for the simple, yet frequent and necessary removal of the dark residue described above.
The present invention is an easy-to-use, fast, efficient, and inexpensive device that solves at least one major sole-cleaning problem that is ongoing, unpleasant, widespreadxe2x80x94and with no current solution in sight.
Although this invention is simple, it brings together just the right combination of housing, cleaning/drying elements, and cleaning agents to quickly and easily remove the dark residue from a wide variety of shoe sole sizes and types.
To solve this task in an acceptable manner, several objects and advantages of the present invention are:
a) to provide a cleaner and dryer box that could accommodate various types and sizes of shoes and boots worn by men, women, and older children;
b) to provide for soles of varied composition and those shoes with smooth soles or with different kinds of indentations;
c) to provide said apparatus that is not complex, has very few moving parts, and does not require a source of electrical power;
d) to provide a sturdy framework that could withstand everyday use, if necessary, by various individuals;
e) to provide an apparatus that will be compact, appear nice, and yet be practical and affordable for most people;
f) to provide a device that would be fast and easy to use, or some people mightxe2x80x94and actually havexe2x80x94skipped cleaning their soles, only to soil both carpet and furniture in a short time;
g) to provide a cleaning/drying device for soles so that shoes do not have to be removed before entering a home;
h) to provide an apparatus that would be portable enough to move when necessary or desirable;
i) to provide a device that can be easily used and maintained without trepidation;
j) to provide sole cleaning elements that can be cleaned and/or replaced when desired at a low cost;
k) to provide an apparatus that is inexpensive to manufacture;
l) to provide real assistance to homemakers by helping to keep their homes clean from dark marks on carpet/rugs, tile floors, and upholstered furniture.
Advantages of My Invention over Prior Art for Residue Removal:
Some of the prior art seems to lack simplicity and concentrates more on numerous parts and automation. Yet, some peoplexe2x80x94perhaps prospective users of sole cleanersxe2x80x94tend to shun or ignore what looks complicated, or they are easily intimidated by something too automated. They do not want to spend much time trying to figure out how something works or what seem like complex instructions. Also, some people may want toxe2x80x94or need toxe2x80x94put their sole cleaners in places not close to a power source.
The cleaning elements and agents are not clear in some of the prior art reviewed. They may mention water, brushes, bristles, self-stiffening cleaning sheets, or moisture-absorbent material. However, it is the size, composition, and density of the cleaning element, i.e., the high pile, thick tufted carpet piece that is needed to remove paving residue from all of the various grooves on shoe soles. Along with that is a cleaning agent, besides water, such as orange cleaner to wet the dark residue so that it will come off on the cleaner and dryer elements in my invention. The elements are described in the xe2x80x9cDescriptionxe2x80x9d sections following.
Obviously, the orange cleaner is not part of the invention, but it, or some similar cleaner, needs to be mentioned in connection with the residue problem.
For the main purpose intended, as stated above, my invention has fewer parts than most of the prior art and yet is still quite effective and more affordable than the more complicated devices.
A great deal of the prior art does not seem to be available in the market place. So, if not in wide use, one wonders if it is too expensive to make, too narrow in scope, or just not available in some parts of the country. The invention discussed herein could be available for widespread use in appropriate areas, because it is economical and simple to operate.
Because this problemxe2x80x94the dark residue on shoe solesxe2x80x94is so widespread in some places, it involves many, many homes in every socioeconomic level. There is, then, a need for all of these homes to have their own sole cleaning device to alleviate the problem.
Thus, my invention would seem to lend itself to commercial success since there appears to be nothing like it that is as inexpensive to make, yet fast and simple to use for the purpose stated.
This invention is new in its simplicity. It omits numerous elements in the prior artxe2x80x94motors, switches, belts, gears, rails, etc.xe2x80x94without loss of capability for the problem mentioned. It also provides the advantages of speed and simplicity that are not suggested in previous inventions.